


Technically, Difficulties

by FalconFate



Series: Voltron: The Horse!AU [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Equine!AU, Fluff, Horses, Lions are horses, M/M, Rider!AU, Riding, Ugh, can i get uhhhh tags please, dressage, horse!au, is cute tho, literally the third time i've had to write these tags, okay, uhhh, yay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-07
Updated: 2017-08-07
Packaged: 2018-12-12 14:00:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11738529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FalconFate/pseuds/FalconFate
Summary: Lance has a problem. Keith offers a solution.(a.k.a. dressage is difficult, man)





	Technically, Difficulties

**Author's Note:**

> How many times have I STARTED THIS. Ugh. Enjoy, I have worked so hard under the sun which is above my ceiling.
> 
> Okay, but all jokes aside, I did enjoy writing this, so I hope you all enjoy reading it! Woo! Words!

“C’mon, Blue, work with me here,” Lance whined, failing yet again to keep Bluebell’s hindquarters on the track. She tossed her head, uncharacteristically irritable.

“Just keep asking for it, my boy,” Coran told him. “You’ll get it eventually.”

Gritting his teeth, Lance straightened Blue’s neck on the shortside, and then turned her onto a ten meter circle in the corner, trying to focus on bringing their shoulders in without overbending. When it seemed like it might be working, Lance guided them onto the track, trying to get the shoulder-in to translate from the circle to the longside.

It didn’t.

When Lance couldn’t fix it before the next corner, he came off the track and asked for a walk, letting the reins go and flopping over Bluebell’s neck. “Coran, this is frustrating,” Lance declared grumpily.

“Alright, then, gather your wits and watch Hunk,” Coran responded sharply. “Oh, good afternoon, Keith! We didn’t have a lesson scheduled, did we?”

Lance finally sat up, squinting at the arena’s gate where Keith had just entered on Red. Keith was shaking his head as he answered Coran. “Don’t worry, Coran. I just wanted to warm her up in here before I took her out, if you don’t mind.”

“Absolutely! Just stay out of the way of my lesson, we’re doing lateral work.”

Keith nodded, and walked a few laps around Lance. Lance tried to ignore him and watch Hunk and Goldilocks instead, trying to figure out _how_ Hunk was asking the big mare to cross her hind legs like that.

After a few demonstrations, Lance still didn’t get it. But Coran didn’t seem to think so; he called, “Alright, Hunk, let’s allow Lance another go at it! Lance, get out there, let’s see if we can get one or two steps in before we call it a day.”

With a sigh of resignation, Lance did as he was told and trotted out to the track, keeping an eye on where Keith was currently doing leg yields. Even though Keith was supposed to stay out of _his_ way three times over, Lance still considered it good manners to know where everyone in the ring was, so that he could stay out of the way (or complain about someone else not following the rules).

He attempted, again, to do at least a _step_ of shoulder in.

After ten minutes of no progress, Hunk had left the ring, Keith was probably halfway through his whole warm up process, and Lance was, understandably, irritated. Not with Blue, though. If there was one thing he’d learned in the past fifteen years of riding, it was never the horse’s fault.

Coran caught his attention after another unsuccessful try. “Lance, our lesson time is just about up, and I ought to go check on the beginners who should be getting ready. I’ll let you try again a few more times, but you know that these things don’t just happen. As with anything, practice makes perfect! And you just need some more practice. Don’t overwork yourself or Blue!”

“Thanks, Coran,” Lance muttered. “If we don’t get it before you come back, we’ll take a break.”

“Excellent!” And with that, Coran promptly vaulted over the arena’s fence and marched towards the barn.

Grumbling, Lance tried the shoulder-in again.

And again.

And another time, before suddenly someone asked, “What are you doing with your hips when you try to do the shoulder-in?”

Lance frowned at Keith. “What do you mean? Nothing’s wrong with my hips, my hips are great.”

The other rider rolled his eyes. “I didn’t say they weren’t. I asked what you’re doing with them, because it seems like you move them in the directions your legs move.”

Lance stared at him blankly. “Dude. That makes no sense. Where else would they go?”

“You put your outside leg a little bit back, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And your inside closer to the girth?”

“Yeah…”

“And you move your hips in those directions, too?”

“Of course.”

“Try moving your outside hip forward,” Keith suggested. “It’ll help tell Blue where you want her shoulders to go, and it’s a little less effort on your torso.”

“That… makes absolutely no sense,” Lance said again. “But hey, nothing else has worked.” He made to turn back to the track, but Keith stopped him.

“Actually, wait, Lance—”

“What now?”

“Do you know what you’re trying to feel for?”

Now that Lance thought about it, that was a good point. “I have no idea,” he admitted.

And now Keith looked a little unsure of himself. “Do you… do you want to try it on Red? She kind of just… does it automatically at this point. Not like Queenie does, but I don’t think any horse does it like Queenie.”

Lance blinked. Then he frowned. “Uh…”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Keith hurried to say, “but I just meant… you obviously haven’t done it with Bluebell before, and even if she’d known how to do it before you got her, she might have forgotten, and I just thought it might be nice for you to have an idea of what you’re trying to look for—”

“Slow down, buddy!” Lance told him, laughing. “I don’t think Blue will mind if I try to make this whole thing easier by knowing what I’m trying to ask for.”

Keith seemed to relieve his anxiety in one breath. “Okay. Um. I can give you a leg up? Red hates mounting blocks.”

Not even two minutes later, Lance was settled into Red’s saddle. It was a little weird. He hadn’t sat in an unfamiliar saddle in a few years, now; he didn’t think he’d ridden anyone other than Blue since he got her. Red was a little taller than Blue, and not quite as bulky. And then there were the stirrups.

Or, rather, the lack thereof. “I keep forgetting that you took your stirrups off last year and refused to put them back,” Lance noted.

Keith laughed. “Yeah. Shiro still tries to put them on when I’m not looking, sometimes. She doesn’t need a lot of leg, and try to use your hands as little as possible—you just need to shift your weight back to tell her to slow down or halt.”

“Very minimalist, eh?” Lance joked. But he kept that in mind, nudging her sides as gently as possible, wobbling a bit when she took a **gigantic** step forward. “Okay, yes, I see what you mean. Minimalist. Very very minimalist.”

As Lance guided Red out to the track, Blue watched curiously from her spot in the middle of the ring, but didn’t try any mischief on Keith. Lance trotted a lap around the ring, getting himself used to Red’s unfamiliar gate, before he attempted the first shoulder-in.

As he came to a corner before the longside, Lance tried to remember what Keith had said; to shift his hips opposite the way he moved his legs. He took a deep breath, and let it out.

_Here we go._

And, lo and behold, Red did it. Lance laughed excitedly. “Holy shit! This is so cool! I think I know what I’m doing now!” He looked towards Keith and Blue, catching sight of Keith’s small smile. “Blue! Take notes,” he called.

“Think you got it?” Keith asked, after Lance had done a few shoulder-ins in each direction.

“I think I do,” Lance answered. “I’ll let you get back to your ride, now. Thank you for letting Red teach me.”

“No problem,” Keith told him. He gave Lance a leg up back into his own saddle, and then just… superhero jumped into Red’s. He watched Lance take Blue out to the track, and try the shoulder-in again, succeeding this time, much to Lance’s delight.

“I can’t _wait_ to show Coran,” Lance exclaimed, finally finishing up. “Keith, weren’t you going to go on a trail ride or something?”

“I was. Do you want to come with? Pidge is going, too, they should be about ready by now.”

Lance blinked. “Oh. Sure. Which trail?”

Keith shrugged. “Probably the Green Pearl.”

“Oooh, sounds like fun. Let’s go!”

**Author's Note:**

> So since this is actually the third time I'm doing this: definitions at the end!
> 
> Okay, so the 'superhero jump' thing Keith does... that's not its name. I don't know what the name IS, though; I've heard 'vaulting' and 'unassisted mounting' so far, but until I get the answer from a verifiable source (ie: my trainer at school), I have,,, no idea. Lance and I are just gonna call it a superhero jump for the time being.
> 
> now, what Lance means when he says Keith ought to be staying out of his way 'three times over': in an arena, there are rules. Usually. The rules that are generally accepted as 'universal' are, as follows: 
> 
> 1\. The faster pace has the rail.  
> Subrule: don't walk on the rail unless you have a loophole.  
> 2\. Always pass someone going the other direction, at the same pace, left shoulder to left shoulder (if you're going left then you just stay on the rail you're fine).  
> 3\. Someone doing lateral work HAS THE RAIL. Like, seriously, lateral work is hard enough without someone getting in your way—which just. ruins everything. your ride, your day, your week, your life,,, im ranting continue  
> 4\. Now, this is an unofficial rule (I think. I'll have to check) but someone in a lesson has priority over someone NOT in a lesson. 
> 
> So, from these, keith has to avoid lance because a) Lance was doing lateral work b) Lance was going to the left and c) Lance was in a lesson.
> 
> I'm sorry, that was a lot for one little detail, but I LOVE these rules, they're so simple, and yet so. many. people. don't. FOLLOW. them. ugh,,,,
> 
> AND definitions:  
> Leg yield: Moving your horse forward and diagonal; allows the horse to cross their legs and stretch muscles they wouldn't stretch otherwise (lateral work).  
> Shoulder-in: Similar purpose as leg yield. You keep the horse's hind end on the rail, but bring their fron legs off; they cross their hind legs and stretch things.
> 
> As always: thank you for reading! Comments and kudos are loved and appreciated!!  
> (just like Lance ;;;))


End file.
